"Most applications do not deal with disks directly, instead storing their data in files in a file system, which protects us from those scoundrel disks. After all, a key task of the file system is to ensure that the file system can always be recovered to a consistent state after an unplanned system crash (for example, a power failure). While a good file system will be able to beat the disks into submission, the required effort can be great and the reduced performance annoying. This article examines the shortcuts that disks take and the hoops that file systems must jump through to get the desired reliability."

"The German cabinet backed a draft law requiring Google and other news aggregators to pay for summarized information they display before linking to a source – a move that has outraged the Internet giant, politicians and bloggers alike.
The move, backed by publishing giants like the Axel Springer group, was originally proposed by the Federation of German News Publishers – who were very upset with lost advertising revenue."